Abstract
Multi-connectivity (MC) is one of the most important features to be introduced in 5G networks, allowing User Equipment (UE) to simultaneously aggregate radio resources from several network nodes to enhance both data rates and reliability. Thus, this feature enables a further flexibility in the allocation of resources to the UEs in order to fulfil the users’ requirements in more complex 5G scenarios. This paper takes advantage of this wide flexibility to present a traffic steering approach that determines the amount of traffic to be held by each of the serving nodes in a multi-connectivity scenario. In this sense, the proposed technique is based on network and UE performance metrics in order to maximize the users’ perceived quality of experience (QoE) for enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services. It is then compared with a homogeneous traffic split among the serving nodes, with a single-connectivity approach and with state-of-the-art solutions. The benefits are analysed in terms of throughput and Mean Opinion Score (MOS), which is the main QoE metric. The analysis shows that a noticeable UE throughput improvement is reached when the proposed traffic steering method is applied. Consequently, this enhancement is noticed in the users’ QoE, which can lead to a reduction of operating expenses (OPEX) of the network.
Highlights
The arrival of the Fifth-Generation (5G) standard has introduced new service categories such as Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communications (URLLC), which support services demanding high reliability and low latency, massive Machine-Type Communications services, which are characterized by supporting a high number of devices with low demands of throughput and enhancedMobile Broadband services with the objective of providing high throughput connectivity [1].new 5G networks must address several requirements depending on the service demanded by the User Equipments (UEs).In addition to traditional requirements that a service must meet, such as packet delay budget or packet error loss rate, next-generation networks will present a user-centric approach, which will focus on achieving the quality of experience (QoE) that the user demands for each service
Beyond the state-of-the-art, this paper proposes a novel traffic steering technique that aims at maximizing the QoE perceived by users of enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services in new MC scenarios
This paper presents a solution focused on optimizing the QoE perceived by the eMBB users
Summary
New 5G networks must address several requirements depending on the service demanded by the User Equipments (UEs). In addition to traditional requirements that a service must meet, such as packet delay budget or packet error loss rate, next-generation networks will present a user-centric approach, which will focus on achieving the quality of experience (QoE) that the user demands for each service. In the context of eMBB services and in order to cope with their new requirements, new solutions have been proposed in the literature. This is the case of millimetre wave (mmWave), whose underused frequency bands become possible to boost the network capacity [2]. The extremely short wavelength of the mmWaves allows a large number of antenna elements to be grouped together in a Electronics 2020, 9, 2063; doi:10.3390/electronics9122063 www.mdpi.com/journal/electronics
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